raspberry jam

Every summer, for a day or two, raspberries go on super sale. You can pick up a 6 oz clamshell for 99¢, and the berries are sweet, juicy, and very, very ripe. I wait for these days all year long, and I spend every one of them gorging myself on my favorite fruit. This year, that period seemed to last much longer than usual, and I found myself making extra trips to the grocery store so I could cruise through the produce section and pick up more cheap raspberries. In spite of my constant berry consumption, I ended up with towering stacks of 6 oz clamshells in my fridge, and I knew I’d have to use them up soon– before they were lost to a fuzzy blanket of white mold.

I managed to use a few cups in thiscake, but it only made a small dent in my berry supply. It was time to break out the dutch oven and make some jam.

It’d been a few years since I’d last made a batch of jam, so although I didn’t follow it exactly, I referred to this recipe for instruction. The warm sugar trick is one I’ll keep in mind for all future jam-making. I ended up using about 8 cups of berries, 5 cups of sugar, and the juice of one small lemon. After a little while on the stove, the berries broke down completely, and turned into a thick, deeply scarlet syrup.

This is easily the best jam I’ve ever made– it was perfectly sweet, intensely fruity, and it gelled up impeccably. I ended up with six full half-pint jars and a little left over. I think I’ll hand a few out to friends and selfishly hoard the rest. Perhaps there’s a batch of linzer cookies in my future.

Other things:

– I got this album as an anniversary present from Nick, and it’s been playing non-stop.
– This is both an effective and highly entertaining way of cleaning records. I rescued a favorite Billie Holiday album that no amount of felt-brushing could completely clean.
– I’m excited to see this movie this week!